Almost Human
by Destiny Howell
Copyright 2021 Destiny Howell
All Rights Reserved
Cover Design by Sarah Easley
Smashwords Edition January 2013
This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, trademarked products, events, and locations are fictitious or are used fictitiously. Any resemblances to actual events or persons, living or dead, are entirely coincidental.
Smashwords Edition License Notes:
This free ebook may be copied, distributed, reposted, reprinted and shared, provided it appears in its entirety without alteration, and the reader is not charged to access it.
Contents
1. I Get A Surprise With My Pizza
2. Running For Your Life Builds Character
3. I See Way Too Much
4. The Giant Wolf At The End Of This Chapter
5. Darth, You Can Stop Drooling Now, Seriously
6. Guys Are Dogs
7. This Is Wrong On So Many Different Levels
8. I Get To Meet My Staler
9. This Needs To Stop Happening
10. Rachel The Dogcatcher
11. Don't Worry Dad. I'm Totally Fine.
12. History, History, History: History Repeats Itself
13. Debating With A Werewolf
14. I Get An Upgrade
15. Taunting Werewolves And Other Extremely Stupid Sports
16. Just When I Think I've Got It Figured Out
17. Debating: Round Two
18. We Have Some ‘splaining To Do
Extras
1. I Get A Surprise With My Pizza
All I wanted to do was order pizza. Just one stupid carnivore special from Pizza Safari. Instead, I got my reality shattered and almost killed multiple times.
Not exactly the weekend I was counting on.
I was watching my brothers while my dad was out. Well, actually, my brother, Calvin, and his best friend, Darth. Darth’s real name is David, by the way. I just gave him that nickname because of his former Star Wars obsession. That passed but the name stuck. He also isn’t my brother, but he might as well be. He’s at our house all the time and he annoys me just as much as Calvin does. Not to say that I don’t like them. They just have some serious issues. Like, for instance, Calvin is super hyper. He runs up and down all the time like he’s been chugging Monster all day. That would be fine once in a while but he never turns it off.
Ever.
Darth is calmer but his problem is the fact that he feels the need to unload every single scrap of useless information he hears on us. Every time I see him it’s “Did you know this? Did you know that?” Blah, blah, blah. I don’t care. Still, for nine year olds, they’re all right.
Anyway, I was watching them because my Dad was working late and Darth was staying over so, as the oldest at fourteen, the responsibility went to me. They were in the living room watching Finding Nemo and, originally, so was I but, after about the thirty-fifth time watching it, it starts to lose its charm. I was in my room, on my laptop, when I heard a voice coming from the living room.
“Diana. Did you know that, on average, a nine year old boy needs two-thousand calories a day?”
That’s Darth-speak for “Feed me.” The fridge was mostly empty and I can’t cook to save my life so that meant we were ordering out.
“What do you guys want?”
“Pizza!” Calvin and Darth answered in unison.
I’d actually already started dialing already but I knew they would have revolted if I hadn’t given them a choice.
Pizza Safari is the best pizza place on the planet. Their pizza is excellent for one. The place is small, so I know everyone who works there on a first name basis. Best of all, they’re only about ten minutes away which is great because my dad can’t cook and my mom—isn’t in a position to be able to cook. Let’s just leave it at that.
I ordered the carnivore special (two medium all meat pizzas, cheese sticks, and a large soda) and settled back into the living room to wait for the food.
Ten minutes. Twenty minutes. Thirty minutes. Forty minutes. Forty Five minutes.
That’s how long we waited for our pizza. Four. Five. That was the longest it had ever taken for pizza to get to us and I’m counting the time the delivery truck was broken so they had to bike to our house during one of the hottest days of the summer.
I went to the door, a little annoyed, to get our pizzas and immediately realized what the problem was.
“You’re not Finn.”
Finn is the son of the owner of Pizza Safari and the usual delivery boy. He’s a couple of years older than me, dark, and tall. The guy at the door was definitely not Finn.
He had neatly cut brown hair, brown eyes, and light skin. He was also older than Finn, mid twenties at least. Probably older. Having a new delivery guy would explain why our pizza took so long.
“No,” not-Finn said. “I’m filling in. Uh, that’ll be $15.25.”
While I was digging around in my pocket for the money, I noticed something. He was looking at me. Really staring, and not in a “Hurry up and give me my money” kind of way. In a “Starting to creep me out” sort of way.
“Hey, what are you looking at?”
“Uh—oh, what?” He sputtered for a few seconds trying to cover for himself but I squinted at him until he gave up. “I was just, uh, you look a lot like your Mom.”
I suppose I could have taken that as a compliment. My mom and I looked a little bit alike. I inherited her bright red hair and muddy green eyes. The difference is, my mom managed to cross through her awkward teenage years like a champ while I’m still waiting for the wheel to stop spinning on that one.
But the first thing I actually said was, “How do you know my Mom?”
He took a deep breath like he was about to start telling a really long story, “When I was about seven—”
Slam! And suddenly he was on the floor. Out of nowhere, some animal had jumped onto his back, knocked him unconscious, and started ripping into him. It looked like some sort of dog, almost like a Husky, but it was the biggest husky I had ever seen. It was almost up to my chest, packed with muscle, and, to make things worse, armed with sharp claws and teeth.
Looking back, I probably should have done something to try to help. I mean, he was unconscious and there was a giant dog on top of him but the fight or flight response is strong and there was no way I was fighting that thing.
So I ran.
2. Running For Your Life Builds Character
A few months ago, Darth told me this story about a lady who drove over her kid by accident then got so hyped up on adrenaline that she lifted the car off of him. He also told me that he got the story off of the internet so I didn’t believe it at all. But now, running out of the house hauling Calvin and Darth with me, I was starting to rethink that.
“What are you doing?” Calvin yelled, trying to get out of the death grip I had on his wrist.
“Giant. Killer. Dog.” I panted out without slowing down.
Ever notice how unnecessary words fail you when you’re running for your life?
“What do—oh! Man!”
As if on cue, the dog left the pizza boy and started running towards us.
“D-did you know that dogs can run—”
“Not the time Darth!” I snapped.
I quickly thought through all the places in the house where we could escape to that were dog safe when it came to me.
“Guys, treehouse!”
The “treehouse” is more like a tree floor. Dad started building it but it never really came together so it’s basically just the floor and some posts. Darth and Calvin like it better like that because they get to jump out without using the ladder.
We got out the back door and into the backyard in record time, with the dog at our heels.
“Last one up is dog meat!” I yelled. Looking back, I probably could have said something less morbidly accurate. It did help though. The boys scrambled up the tree trunk like the little monkeys they are and I used the ladder.
The wolf/dog chased us up to the tree then screeched to a halt and sat up like a soldier, which, to think about it, was pretty weird. Darth has a dog and I’ve seen it chase poor unlucky squirrels up trees then claw the tree to shreds and yap up and the squirrel.
Of course, I didn’t notice at the time.
“What do we do now?” whispered Calvin.
“Wait him out I guess. Hold on. I think I have my cell—”
And that’s when everything went wrong.
There was a dull thud as a figure dropped from higher up in the tree to the wooden floor. The person was wearing a black ski-mask, so I couldn’t see a face but, from the shape, I could tell it was definitely not a guy.
“Wh—” I started but before I said get one word out, the woman stepped up and shoved Darth and Calvin straight out of the tree.
“No!”
You know how in action movies, when someone’s falling or there’s an explosion the movie suddenly goes into slo-mo and you can see the hero’s eyes bugging out and their mouth widening and stuff? Well, it wasn’t like that at all. One second they were there and the next, they weren’t.
Not only was I confused, I was infuriated. Sure, Darth and Calvin are annoying but that doesn’t mean I want people throwing them out of freakin’ trees! As instinctively as I ran from the dog, I got a running start and attacked the woman, not stopping to think that she was bigger than me and that I had no fighting skills or weapons until I was already in mid-air.
She easily knocked me down and held me from behind, strongly enough so that I couldn’t run but not strongly enough so that it hurt.
“Shh, don’t worry. Take it easy. We’re here to help.”
“What do you mrph—”
She put her hand over my mouth.
“Shh! Diana, we can’t let him hear.”
“Mrph!” Translation: Who are you and how do you know my name?
“Calm down, I won’t hurt you. Just trust me for a sec.”
Even though this woman had ambushed me, pushed Darth and Calvin out of the tree, and now had me in a choke hold there was something about her voice that sounded, I don’t know, sincere. So, trustingly (Read: stupidly), I relaxed.
“OK, do you have any silver on you?”
I shook my head; I’m not much for jewelry.
“Good,” she said. “Oh, and don’t worry about your brothers. Finn has them.”
Then she let me out of the hold and pushed me out of the tree house.
I was so shocked I didn’t even have time for a scream. I just kinda’ made this pathetic half yelp on the way down to the ground. Except I didn’t land on the ground. I landed on something furry and warm. I had the sickening feeling that I had just landed myself death my mauling, but that thought was cut short as I felt a sharp pain in my back and blacked out.
3. I See Way Too Much
I woke up very disoriented. It was almost like when you wake up in middle of the night in a hotel and you totally freak out because you can’t remember where you are. The only difference was I knew there was no way I was at the Holiday Inn. Actually, I wasn’t exactly sure where I was. I knew it was a bedroom but it wasn’t one I recognized. Even more disturbing, I had no idea where Calvin or Darth were.
I got up and looked down the hall. No one was there but I could see lights on at the end of the hall. With increasing panic, I snuck down the hall trying to make as little noise as possible. What if they were hurt or being tortured or—
Playing video games in the living room with the serial shover. I had to blink a few times to make sure I was seeing correctly but that’s what it was. They were in the living room with the lady who had brought us here in the first place playing video games, totally fine. It would have looked like a cozy little family scene to someone who didn’t know better. The woman’s brown hair matched Calvin’s (who takes after my dad, not my mom). In fact, now that had a good look at her, I could see that she was right around the right age to be our mom. She didn’t look like Darth but that’s not surprising since he has black hair, a good chunk of baby fat, and the last name Li. Still, she was as chummy with him as we were.
I didn’t like it.
“You!”
She jumped a little and turned from the TV to face me.
“Oh, hi. Uh, wow, I didn’t think you’d be up yet. I know your name but I don’t think you know mine. I’m Rachel.”
She held out her hand for me to shake but I just looked at her until she put it back down.
Calvin and Darth saw how angry I looked and scrambled up to stand behind me.
“Where are we?” I asked flatly.
“My house, at the edge of the woods. I’m an outdoorsy person.”
I shuddered a bit on the inside. As a rule, I stayed away from the woods. They hadn’t done our family any favors so far. Not to mention we were beginning to veer into murder mystery territory starring me and the corpse of the week.
I didn’t say anything for a while so the woman tried again.
“Do you want anything to eat or—”
“Why did you bring us here? Do you want money?”
“No I—”
“Are you, I don’t know, trying to get at our parents?”
“No I’m—”
“Then what do you want?”
“To protect you.”
I laughed, “From who? From the pizza guy? You‘re the one who kidnapped us.”
She looked pained, “It’s…hard to explain.”
“Well try.”
“I will, I promise. I’m just waiting until—” her eyes widened. “Don’t turn around.”
Which, of course, made us all turn around and then back immediately in shock because walking in through the side door was a specimen of 100 percent pure, undiluted, naked guy.
4. The Giant Wolf At The End Of This Chapter
After a whole bunch of dry retching, I realized something. Even though I had turned around as fast as I possibly could have, I had still gotten a glimpse of the guy’s face. He seemed familiar.
“Who was that?” Darth asked, through his and Calvin’s collective giggle fit.
“My...uh...apprentice would be the best word I guess. My apprentice Finn.”
Finn! That was it. I knew she had mentioned his name before but I hadn’t even considered that her Finn and my Finn were the same guy. In fact, I still wasn’t sure. That is, I wasn’t sure until he walked out, now fully clothed in a t-shirt and baggy cargo pants.
“Hey Di, Calvin, Darth. I didn’t expect you guys here so soon.”
“You knew about this? Do your parents even know that you‘re here?” I asked incredulously.
“Oh, Rachel’s cool and my parents know.”
I was at a loss for words. On the one hand, I still didn’t trust this woman, even though it didn’t look like she had hurt me or the boys for that matter. On the other hand, Finn was there, acting totally calm and I trusted him, more or less.
Calvin, however was not at a loss for words, “Are you sure you’re not bad guys?”
“Yeah, why?”
“Because, only bad guys have apprentices. Oh, and wizards. Are you a wizard?”
“No. But to you want to see a trick?”
Calvin and Darth both eagerly nodded yes at the same time Rachel shouted, “Finn no!”
And then he turned into a wolf.
5. Darth, You Can Stop Drooling Now, Seriously
A wolf. He turned into a wolf. And just in case you didn’t get that, he turned into a freakin’ wolf! Or exploded is more like it. Brown fur suddenly burst out of nowhere and he at least doubled in bulk. Shreds of torn clothing slowly floated down and hit the floor.
And, somehow, this still shocked me less than seeing him naked.
“Well, at least I know where his clothes went,” I said mildly.
Then I realized something else, “Hey, you were the dog from before. Right?”
He nodded with a goofy doggy grin plastered on his face.
Calvin and Darth were floored. They were ecstatic. I thought they were going to die front the happiness.
Rachel was considerably less thrilled, “Great. That’s the second set of shredded clothes this week. Your parents are going to love this.”
He just started back at her with big brown eyes.
“Ugh, well I guess that cat’s out of the bag.”
I thought about saying, “You mean wolf,” but that would have been too easy.
“You said he’s your apprentice. So, you’re a werewolf trainer?”
“Not exactly. See, I’m the one who…infected Finn so it’s my responsibility.”
“Whoa, whoa, whoa! You bit him?” I asked, backing up.
“No! Well, yes but not on purpose.”
Finn nodded vigorously, then held up a paw and ran down the hall. A few minutes later, he came back in human form.
“No it’s OK. She’s cool now. She explained this to me,” Finn said, “It wasn’t her fault. It was a full moon and she didn’t have her silver. ”
“What does that have to do with anything?”
“Usually when we transform, we get the wolf body and that’s it. On full moons we get the entire package. Body and mind. The silver stops it,” Rachel said.
“And before you ask why she didn’t have and silver, she did,” Finn cut in, “It got snatched. Not a great decision on that guy’s part. I was unlucky enough to get caught in the crossfire. Like I said, not her fault so, you can stop backing up. She’s not going to bite you.”
“Are you sure?” Calvin asked, sounding a little disappointed.
“Positive,” Rachel said, “I don’t think your Dad would like that.”
“So can we at least see your wolf?”
“I’m not sure that would be the best idea.”
Calvin turned on the puppy dog face. Darth got the message and joined in.
Good luck saying no to that, Lady, I thought.
She caved, of course. Everyone always does.
When she started taking off her shirt, I freaked a little but she had on an undershirt and shorts under her pants.
“To minimize the destroyed clothes,” she explained.
Then, she closed her eyes, concentrated, and wolfed out. Her wolf looked almost the same as Finn’s except for two things: Her wolf was a little bigger and had blue eyes like her instead of Finn’s brown eyed wolf.
She stood straight up and paraded around like she was in a dog show. Then she picked up her clothes gently in her teeth and walked down the hall into a room.
She came back in wearing the same clothes and a serious expression.
“OK, fun’s over. Now, we talk business.
6. Guys Are Dogs
“So, why did you bring us here?”
We were in the kitchen to “talk business” minus Calvin and Darth, who Rachel sent to go play video games.
“It’s a pretty long story.”
I drummed my fingers on the table, “I have time.”
“Well, remember the man, from before? Brown hair, about my age.”
“Yeah, pizza guy, right?”
“He’s not really a pizza guy, but right. We’re thinking he was monitoring the phones. First, just to get it out of the way, he’s a werewolf.”
“So? You are too and you’re not dangerous. At least I don’t think so.”
“He’s not dangerous because ‘cause he’s a werewolf. He’s dangerous because he’s a stalker,” Finn said.
“He’s a what?” I felt my stomach start to drop.
“A stalker. That’s what he was doing there. He stalked your mom too. Right Rachel?”
Her face was buried in her hands.
“I was planning on saying it more tactfully, but yes. He did stalk your mom and he has been stalking you.”
“Why?”
“Because he wanted her and he couldn’t have her. He liked her in high school but so did about half the male population of the school and none of them tried to stalk her. They dated for, about, a week before she finally realized how right I was about the fact that he was a creep.”
“And you know this how?”
“We went to the same high school.”
“Oh. Anything else you forgot to tell me?”
She shifted uncomfortably in her seat, “Are you sure you want to know?”
“Just tell me. How bad could it be?”
She took a deep breath then said, “Your Mom was a werewolf.”
“What!” That was a level of bad that I hadn’t even considered.
“Not, while she was pregnant with you or Calvin,” she added quickly, trying to calm me down, “It didn’t get passed on.”
“Why? How?”
“Leon did it. He thought that if he did that, your mom would freak and run, right into his arms. But it didn’t work obviously. I found out what he did and got to her before he could start the lies.”
Even though I trusted Rachel more or less this was a lot to digest. She didn’t have a reason to lie to me that I could see but I still found it hard to believe… pretty much all of the stuff she had just said.
“So this creep’s been stalking me?”
“Yeah. About a year now. And we’ve been watching him. Don’t think we haven’t. He was listening outside the shop with his wolf ears and hijacked the order.”
“It’s a good thing it was a slow day at the shop. That would have been hard to explain. I got Rachel as fast as I could and I fought him the entire way to try and give her time to get to you,” Finn added.
“What does he want from me?”
“This is where it gets—uncomfortable. At first, I thought he was just doing it to undermine me. I had told him not to mess with your family. Then, it started to get more obsessive. It doesn’t help that you look so much like your Mom.”
A few hours ago, I would have been ecstatic to hear that but, now, it just made me sick.
“It was just the following you for a while,” she continued, “and I made sure that, that didn’t get too far, but now that he’s made contact”
“What,” I demanded. “What does it mean?”
“It means he’s planning to bite you.”
7. This Is Wrong On So Many Different Levels
The room went dead silent after that. The only thing you could hear was the faint sound of cartoon violence in the next room.
“He wants to bite me? Are you sure?”
She nodded, “Pretty sure. He’s following the same pattern that he did with your Mom. Obsess, stalk, bite. We were trying to stop it before that last part.”
“But that doesn’t even make any sense! He bit Mom so she would have talk to him or whatever, right? Well, I can just talk to you. Why would I talk to him over you? You’re not stalking me.”
“Well, he was planning on getting to you first. Also, you haven’t really met him but you should know he’s not the most stable person.”
“Why does he have to be a wolf? Which idiot bit him?”
She shrugged, “Beats me,” then she asked, “Are you OK? You’re taking this pretty well, considering.”
No. No, I’m not taking this well. I’m being stalked by a psycho werewolf. I, oh, and let’s not forget the rest of my family, are in terrible danger. Thanks for asking.
“Yeah, I’m fine. So, what do we do?”
Finn had been quiet for a long time, but now he spoke, “We take him down. That’s what! I know the situation sucks, but do you know how much it sucks to be able to do this and not be allowed?”
I glared at him for being so excited about the current situation and he had the good sense to wipe the stupid grin off his face.
“What I actually meant is what are we going to do specifically?”
“Well, we haven’t been doing nothing,” Rachel said, “but now that he’s made a move, we can get offensive.”
“Wait, offense? Your plan is to beat him up ‘till he stops?”
“Pretty much,” Finn said.
“You haven’t tried that yet?”
“No. Rachel said we should try to fix this nonviolently as long as he didn’t try anything.”
He said nonviolent the same way a normal person would say “throw-up” or “summer reading assignment”.
Rachel shook her head at him, “We’re not trying to kill him. Just stop him. Not that I wouldn’t mind getting in some damage. Oh, by the way, here.” She handed me a silver ring that she got out of her pocket.
“You should wear this. It should keep him from getting too close to you. In wolf form at least.”
“Shouldn’t Darth and Calvin get some silver too? If he’s targeting me, they’ll be in danger too. Oh, and my Dad.”
“I’ll get some for them,” Finn said, getting up.
Once he was gone, Rachel walked over and touched my shoulder.
“Are you sure you’re OK?” She sounded so sincere, so sorry she had dumped all this crap on me that I didn’t lie.
“No. No I’m not OK. This is pretty much my worst day ever. I’m probably going to get mauled to death, I’m being stalked and, oh yeah, when Dad gets home and I’m not there he will put my mangled body back together and re-kill me.”
“Don’t worry. You’ll be fine. Now that you know what’s going on and you have some protection, we can fix this.” Then she smiled slyly, “And I wouldn’t worry about that last one if I were you. I had Finn go slash his tires before he came back. Your Dad won’t be going anywhere for a while.”
That got a small smile out of me and Rachel patted me on the back, “We’ll get through this and then you can get back to your life like this never happened.”
I smiled a little at that too. There was no way I could pretend that that none of this had happened. Still, it was nice to think that I’d be able to put all of this behind me.
And then Finn had to ruin it.
“Guys! Come here quick!”
We rushed into the living room to find Finn alone.
“What is it?” I asked. From the tone of his voice, I was expecting hordes of angry zombie pirates or something, not an empty room.
“There’s nothing in here.”
Exactly. I checked all the rooms. I went outside. Calvin and Darth are gone.”
“No!”
At that moment, I flat lined. I swear I did. Even with all the general terribleness of this day, I had never felt as bad as I had at this moment. Never. And it was just getting worse.
“It gets worse,” Finn said handing a card to Rachel, “I found that in here.”The card was printed out of that fancy kind of card-stock, they use for weddings and graduations and stuff. As I read over Rachel’s shoulder. I felt myself get sicker and sicker.
Diana. 9:00 McDonalds Lakeview Mall W
I stumbled back and dropped myself on the couch with my eyes closed for about a minute. When I opened my eyes, both Rachel and Finn were looking down at me, concerned.
“You do know you don’t have to do this if you don’t want to, right? We’ll take care of it. We’ll get them back.”
“No,” I said, suddenly furious. “No. He wants me there, I’ll be there.” I smiled, “Besides, I never did get to eat that pizza.”
8. I Get To Meet My Stalker
So that’s how I ended up standing nervously outside the new McDonalds in the mall.
“You can still get out of this,” Rachel said, “We won’t blame you.”
I shook my head, “No. I’m doing this. Just make sure nothing happens.”
She nodded but she still looked about as nervous as I felt. Finn was hanging back to spring into action if needed.
I took a second to put on a calm face, and then walked in. He was easy to spot because he was the one looking at the door every two seconds like he was waiting for a date. Then I realized that that would make me the date and I shuddered.
He smiled when he saw me, “Diana, so nice of you to come.”
“Like you gave me much of a choice. Where are Darth and Calvin?”
“They’re two booths down. They’re fine you know. I didn’t do anything to them.”
“Before you get even get one more word out of me, you’ll let them go.”
He waved his hands, “Of course, I was going to anyway.”
I spotted them, right where he said they’d be. They saw me and ran over. Darth kicked him under the table on the way over, which earned him so many points in my head.
“Are you guys OK?” I asked, pulling them both close.
“Yeah, fine. He didn’t do anything,” Calvin narrowed his eyes, “yet.”
“Both of you go outside and stay with Finn. OK?”
They both nodded and I watched them walk out. Then, I turned to him and gave him my best death glare.
“OK, I’m here. You got what you wanted. Let’s get this over with.”
“No need to be so hostile. I just wanted to talk.”
“Look, you stalk me, kidnap my brothers, and plan on biting me, expect hostile.”
“I just thought—”
“You just thought what?” I spat. “That I would come and you would—I don’t even know. Sweep me off my feet? I’m fourteen! How old are you? Thirty?”
He got all pouty and his voice went from all cool and debonair to high and whiny.
“This wasn’t supposed to go like this.”
“Oh, I’m sorry, did I hurt your feelings? Well deal with it. I came here for only two reasons. One was to get Calvin and Darth back, which I did. The other was to tell you that if you ever come anywhere near them or me ever again I will shove this ring so far down your throat you will choke before the silver even has a chance to affect you.”
Yeah, I realized that there was no way I was going to be able to back up that threat but I was so angry, it sounded like I could.
“Now, I don’t care about any sense of entitlement you might have towards me because the stuff with you and my mom or whatever but stay away from me. Stay away from me. Stay away from my family. Stay out of my life.”
Then I got up and decided to throw in one last jab, “By the way, doesn’t Leon mean cat or something? Pretty suckish for a wolf.”
By now, any pretense of niceness was gone and he was in full crazy person mode.
“You think you’ve got it all figured out. You think Rachel’s telling you everything? Ha! Ask her about what she did to me. Then you’ll see.”
“Later Kitty Cat.”
9. This Needs To Stop Happening
I walked out of the McDonalds with an incredible rush. It was almost like the time I rode the Vomit Comet three times in a row at the fair. Rachel was waiting for me outside the door with a strange mix of pride and worry on her face.
“That was incredible! That was—that was—that was just incredible! Did you see the look on his face? Priceless. I bet that’s what dumping a guy feels like. I wish you could’ve heard that!”
“I think I got the gist. What did you say to him at the end? It must have been pretty bad.”
“What do you—oh, yeah, that. I called him kitty cat. You know, Leon lion. I don’t know. If I was a werewolf and my name meant lion, it would annoy me.”
She winced, “Yeah, that’s a sore spot for him. You really know how to push people’s buttons, don’t you?”
“It’s a skill. But yeah, he went crazy, didn’t he? He was making up a whole bunch of stuff about you hiding stuff and stuff I didn’t know and—hey what’s wrong?”
“I—uh...I’m not sure if getting Leon furious was the best strategy.”
I squinted at her. What had she expected me to do? Have a nice talk and work things out? She must have expected that. Unless…unless she was upset about something else.
“Are you sure that’s what it is? Did Leon say something or did I do something or did—”
“I’m the one who bit Leon.”
Is it too much to ask for a good mood that lasts for more than twelve seconds?
“You did what?”
“I, I it was stupid. I was upset. I was having a bad day. It was a full moon. I didn’t want to think so I let the wolf take over. Leon wasn’t supposed to be there. I know I should have told you but—”
“It’s OK. Just, OK.”
It wasn’t her fault. Well, it was her fault but it wasn’t like she had planned this entire thing to make my life suck. Right?
“It’s OK, just let me enjoy this for a second. Then we can—”
Then the screaming started.
Have you ever kicked over an anthill? I used to do it all the time. It was kind of cool watching the ants run around crazily all over the place. Well, that’s how the mall looked now. People were going crazy, slamming into each other, tripping. Just crazy. And I had a pretty good idea what they were running from.
Rachel looked at me, and said one word.
“Run.”
Then she wolfed out and jumped into the crowd.
So for the second time that night, I found myself running for my life.
10. Rachel the Dogcatcher
I would do another commentary on running for my life here but I think you got it the first time. Let’s just say that there are a lot of shoppers with smashed toes and banged up ribs that I owe apologies.
Finn was outside with Darth and Calvin, looking restless. When he saw me he jumped up.
“What’s happening in there? I saw all the people running but I didn’t want to leave Darth and Calvin.”
“Leon and Rachel got into a fight. Claws out.”
“Awesome! Can we see? We wanna’ see,” Calvin said.
“No. Too dangerous. Besides, Rachel’s fine. I’m pretty sure she was winning.”
“Fine, then we wait,” Finn said leaning on the hood of the car.
About a minute later, he got back up and started pacing.
“What’s taking them so long? Should I go in? No, yes, no, I’m going in.”
He got a running start then jumped, ready to transform, when Darth screamed.
“Wait!”
Finn tumbled to the ground painfully.
“What was that for?”
“Look, she’s coming out.”
Sure enough, there was Rachel pushing Leon in front of her like a prisoner.
“Finn, get in the back. Scum gets to sit up front with me.”
She shoved Leon into the passenger seat and slammed the door.
Calvin looked Rachel over then asked, “Where’d you get the, you know, clothes?”
We’ve got work to do.”
11. Don’t Worry Dad. I’m Totally Fine
Before we got going, Rachel got out some sort of silver bracelet and, with some difficulty, locked it around his wrist.
“You won’t be able to wolf your way out of this.”
He just snarled and spat at her.
“What are we going to do with him?” I asked.
“Well first, we’re going to have a nice long talk. What happens after that is up to him”
He snarled again.
We rode in silence for a while until my phone rang. I checked the caller ID. It was my dad.
“Hey, Di. Everything alright over there?”
Well, I’m not dead yet, so yeah.
“Yeah. Why?”
“Nothing, nothing. It’s just that, don’t tell the boys, don’t want to scare them, but my car tires were slashed and the car got broken into. I had to go down to the police station to answer questions and that took forever and it was just complicated. I went to Barnes and Noble. Needed coffee. Will you be OK watching the boys for a half an hour? An hour tops.”
I looked around. Calvin and Darth were both asleep in their seats. Finn was looking out of the window, bored. Rachel was almost crushing the steering wheel. Leon was trying to claw the locked cuff off of his wrist.
“Yeah, I’ll be cool. Enjoy your coffee thing.”
I shut the phone and put it back in my pocket, then leaned against the window.
There’s something about being in a car that puts me to sleep. Even when surrounded by all manner of freakiness. So, as much as I hate to admit it, within a few minutes I was asleep.
When I woke up, we weren’t at Rachel’s house, like I had expected. We were at mine.
“Ok, kids. Out.”
“What?” I asked, rubbing my eyes, “Why are we here?”
“This is your stop. Out.”
“What, no! You can’t leave us here!”
“Don’t worry. It’ll be fine. Leon will be with me and I gave you the silver. Besides, Finn’s staying too.”
Now it was his turn to be outraged.
“What? That’s not fair. I want to come! You’ll need help.”
I’m sure Calvin and Darth would have been more vocally disappointed if they weren’t half asleep.
“Finn, we can argue about this later. Just watch them please. You can even do it in wolf form if you want. Just do it. I’ll pick you up later.”
And, with that, she got back into her car and drove away.
12. History, History, History: History Repeats Itself
And here we were. Right back where we started. In the living room watching Finding Nemo. Except this time, we knew there wasn’t a pizza coming because our pizza boy was a huge wolf pacing around our house.
Funny how things work out, huh?
“Are you sure Rachel is OK?” Calvin asked for the millionth time in the twenty minutes we’d been there.
“Don’t worry, she’ll be fine.”
Usually, I’d be super annoyed at him asking the same question over and over but after a night like that, you deserve all the reassurance you can get.
“We should probably start carrying around wolfsbane too,” he added.
“You do know wolfsbane is poisonous.” Darth said.
“Nu-uh. It only hurts werewolves.”
“It gives you rashes and makes you throw up.”
This is normally where I get up to go do anything else so I don’t have to listen to them, but I didn’t want to leave them alone for a second. I mean, look what happened last time. Right now, a pointless argument and a fluffy Disney movie sounded pretty good.
POP QUIZ
My life has managed to get to get to the point where I don’t feel like stabbing myself repeatedly. What’s coming next? A. Nothing, don’t freak out. B. All hell is about to break loose.
“Diana! Ditch the silver now!!”
CRASH! That’s the sound of my living room window being smashed in by a ton of wolf.
Finn, burst through the back door, pulling his jeans on.
“I said get rid of the silver! Do you want Rachel to get fried?”
I took the ring off and chucked it as far away as possible. Then I got the blanket thing off of the couch and around Rachel who was lying on the floor, shivering, in human form.
“What happened?”
“L-leon. He attacked me and I went wolf. I didn’t think. I forgot about the silver cuff. I got fried. He got it off and took off. It was another stupid mistake.”
Stupid? Stupid? Only stupid? Try terrifically, awesomely, crazily, brain dead. Not that I could say that to her while she was on the floor half naked and shaking.
“Well, do you know where he went?”
“No, I assumed he came here. Where else would he—oh no.”
That is never a good sign.
“In the car, he heard you. We all did. Your dad, he’s at Barnes and Noble. Alone. Leon’s a wolf. He’ll be able to find him easily.”
“No! He wouldn’t. There’s too many people, right?”
She grimaced, “I don’t know anymore. He’s usually so careful. Not anymore. It’s like he doesn’t care anymore. He just wants what he wants any way he can get it. He’s getting more and more drastic. Even after we get your dad out, you still won’t be safe. He’ll just keep trying to get you. I think we’re going to have to try something more permanent.”
And that’s when I had an epiphany. My own personal aha moment.
“No, I got it. I know what we have to do. You have to bite me.”
13. Debating With A Werewolf
“You want what?”
“I need you to bite me and turn me into a werewolf.”
“No.”
“Yes. You have to.”
“Us too,” Calvin quickly added in.
“No. Now go get Rachel some clothes. Both of you.”
“But we wanna’ listen!”
“Go, now.”
They left, all pouty and puppy dog eyed but I ignored them. I had more important things to worry about.
“Rachel, listen. Our two problems are that Leon wants to bite me and that I’m unprotected, right. So if you bite me, he won’t be able to and he’ll get off it. Plus if he tries anything, I’ll be able to fight back. Win-win, right?”
“No.”
“Come on! You did it to Finn and Leon for that matter.”
“Not on purpose, and I would take it back if I could! Just, listen, OK. This isn’t something you just get up and decide to do. It takes practice and it’s annoying. I got born into this. I’ve been dealing with this forever and it’s hard. Even though he doesn’t act like it, it’s hard for Finn. It’s hard for his parents. Is that what you want?”
“Of course not!” I said, just as sharply as she had been speaking. “Do you think I want to have to deal with all of those weird wolf problems, like the silver thing and the full moon thing and, I don’t know, the whole not being human thing? I don’t want this, I need this. It has to happen. You’re not going to be around all the time and I have to be able to deal with that. Can you please not argue with me on this? It’s been, like, five minutes. He’s probably there already.”
“I know what you—”
“Rachel, do it now, or I’ll get Finn to do it.”
That, did it.
“No. No. If you have to do this, you’ll be my responsibility. Not Finn’s.”
Her eyes set and she looked resolute
“I’ll do it.”
14. I Get An Upgrade
“Are you sure this won’t hurt?”
We were all in the living room, getting ready for me to cross over to the wolf side.
“Positive. The first bite will hurt a little then make you drowsy. Like when Finn bit you after you fell out of the tree.”
I raised my eyebrows at the “fell” comment but didn’t say anything because I wanted this to be over ASAP.
“The second bite is the money one. Are you sure you don’t have any questions or anything?”
“No. Just do it please.”
She sighed, “If you’re sure—”
“I am.”
“Ok, and Darth, before you even ask, no.”
“I didn’t even say anything!” he protested.
“Yet.”
“But what if—”
“Darth no. Rachel, do it now.”
She looked at me one more time, then got off the couch and wolfed out. I wondered if Dad would miss that pair of jeans, then I held out my forearm and braced myself.
First, the numbing bite. It hurt, and then I couldn’t feel it. Then I couldn’t feel anything. That was quickly taken care of by the second bite. Rachel was right, it didn’t hurt. In fact, it felt wonderful. Like a rush adrenaline without having to run for my life to get it. The sensation kept on strong for a minute then it reigned in, until it was just a low buzz.
Rachel was gone, back, and dressed in under a minute. I guess that’s a skill that develops when you’re constantly going through clothes.
“Are you OK?”
I clenched and unclenched my hands a few times, “Yeah. That felt good. You never said it was gonna’ feel good.”
“I didn’t want to encourage you. Oh, and I borrowed these from your dad. I’ll replace them.”
“Are you sure you’re OK?” Calvin asked.
Sometimes, I really don’t like Calvin, but when he’s all adorable like that, I remember why I keep him around.
“Yeah, I’m cool. There’s just this really weird buzzing feeling. When does it go away?”
“It doesn’t, ” Finn said. “You’ll get used to it.”
It didn’t really bother me. In fact it felt nice, just a little distracting. If that was the worst part about this, I was feeling pretty good about my decision.
“Now that that’s over with, I was thinking, I can try out my new wolf, take it for a test run—”
“No!” Finn and Rachel shouted at the same time.
“Geez. Calm down, why not?”
“The first time is really intense. Your brain and the wolf instincts get all jumbled up and it’s hard to control and—remember that time a while ago when our pizza place was closed for remodeling?”
I nodded.
“Well, that was me. It’s better to start out in a controlled place not full of people and property to damage. Besides, you probably won’t have to go all wolf on him. He just needs to know that you’re off the menu and he’ll slink away,heartbroken.”
“Fingers crossed,” Rachel mumbled under her breath.
“Got it, now we—”
And then my phone rang.
I looked at the number. Nobody I knew, which meant one of three things:
1.Wrong number
2.Telemarketer
3.Insane wolf stalker
No prizes for guessing who it was.
“Hey Leon. ‘Sup.”
“I’m at Barnes and Noble.”
I could feel my chest tightening and the fear start to creep up but I kept it out of my voice.
“That’s cool. You know they have a great self-help section? You should probably look into that.”
He totally ignored the crack, “There are so many interesting people here. Your father for instance.”
“Well, yeah. He likes reading. Unlike some people, he has hobbies other than stalking underage girls.”
Finn snickered.
“It would be a shame if anything happened to him,” he said, continuing his intimidation speech that I’m pretty sure he stole from some action flick.
“That’s a good point. Last time he was there he burned his lip on his coffee. We were trying to get him to sue but—”
“You will come alone.”
“Well, I can’t exactly drive.”
He paused for a moment, and then said again, with more force, “Come alone. Then we’ll talk.”
“OK, kitty. It’s a date.”
15. Taunting Werewolves And Other Extremely Stupid Sports
I slid into the booth Leon was sitting in while he was looking the other way. I’ve always been pretty good at sneaking up on people.
“So, you ordered yet?”
He jumped, “Where did you—ordered?”
“Yeah. We’re in a Starbucks. If I have to listen to you talk, I might as well be eating crumb cake. Chop, chop.”
“I think I’ve been very reasonable. I’ve put up with all of your foolishness but I refuse to buy you cake.”
“Fine, biscotti then. I’m flexible.”
He snarled a little but ordered. When it came a few minutes later, I took a big bite out of it, and then put it down.
“Excellent. OK, now you can talk. But Rachel told me to tell you that she’s outside and if you try anything she’s going to turn you into dog meat.”
Leon looked around nervously, “I said come alone.”
“And I said I can’t drive. Guess neither of us are really great listeners, huh?”
I could tell I was wearing him down. His forehead vein was almost popping out like we were in a cartoon.
“Stop doing that!”
“Doing what?” I asked, innocently.
“Being so…impudent!”
“You’re going to have to use your small words. Not everyone is as smart as you.”
“See, right there. You think you’re so in control. Don’t you remember why you’re here in the first place?”
I cocked my head slightly and widened my eyes, “Because you asked so nicely?”
“No. It’s because you’re worried about your precious father.”
The way he said that, so smugly and in control, it made me feel sick. So I decided to turn up the insult level a little.
“My dad. You must really hate him. He’s the one who Mom chose over you. That must do a number on a guy’s ego. Not sure what you expected. She does have standards. He’s not in any danger right now though. We got that covered.”
On cue, Finn walked in casually, saw where Dad was sitting and struck up a conversation. I couldn’t hear what they were saying but I knew that Finn was going to lead him over to the history section which was conveniently on the other side of the store and near and exit. Sure enough, after a few moments, I saw Finn point towards the back of the store and they both got up and left.
His face fell slightly. Good, I thought, and now for the kill.
“Anyway, no matter what you offer me or threaten me with, you won’t get what you want. See?”
I pulled down my sleeve so he could see the bite marks Rachel had left.
“No, you couldn’t have.”
“Can and did,” I said, relishing the defeat in his voice. “Now that I’ve completed the endgame and I’m off the market, I’m thinking I go back to my life and you get a van and travel the U.S. or something. I hear California is very nice this time of year.”
I got up but he was still sitting there, shell-shocked.
“You chose to do this, willingly, instead of just listening to me?”
“Yeah. It was my idea and everything. For the record, you were going to do the same thing.”
“Samantha was the same way,” he continued creepily, “She didn’t listen. She never listened. I tried to explain it to her but she didn’t get it. That’s why I had to fix her.”
I narrowed my eyes, “Come again?”
“She didn’t listen. She didn’t understand, so I had to get rid of her. I didn’t want to but I had to. Is that what you want for yourself? Is it?”
He kept talking after that but I didn’t hear any of it. Angry didn’t even begin to cover what I was feeling. I was feeling wrath. Real, old time, fire from heaven wrath. All the stalking and weirdness and general creepiness I could be gung ho about but not this. Because that’s when it clicked.
When my Mom died, I was seven. The cops said that the circumstances of her death were weird because the people who were working the case said that she had been mauled by a big animal, probably a bear or something. The weird thing was that it was in the middle of the winter, bear hibernation season for those of you not in the know. It always had seemed like weird thing to happen and now I knew why. Mauled by a bear? Sure, a big animal but not a bear.
That was the last straw. After that I didn’t care anymore. I let go of all my self-control. I let the disgust and rage I had been holding in wash over me.
And then I, Diana Temperance Daniels, wolfed out.
16. Just When I Think I’ve Got It Figured Out
Turning into a wolf feels exactly like what a popcorn kernel popping looks like. I’m sorry if that sounds a little vague, but that’s the best way I can describe it. Being a wolf though, that I can describe in one word: Powerful.
Powerful. It felt powerful. I felt like I could do anything. I felt the strength in the wolf’s body, the speed, the sense of smell. Oh my gosh, everything anyone’s ever told you about the canine sense of smell is true. I could smell the mints in the woman’s purse across the room, I could smell the scones that someone had been eating at our table an hour ago, I could smell the fear Leon was feeling. And it smelt like justice.
I pounced. Rachel had said that the first time would be hard but she was wrong. That was because, at that moment, the wolf and I wanted the same thing: Leon ripped into as many small pieces as possible.
I knocked him out first. One blow to the head and it was lights out. There was some background noise, people running for their lives I guess, but I didn’t care. It didn’t matter. All that mattered was what I was doing right now. I circled him.
Unconscious and drooling on the floor, he didn’t look menacing. Now, he looked exactly the way he truly was.
Pathetic.
Finish him, the wolf part of me said.
Yes, finish him. I raised one massive paw, ready to rake wicked sharp claws across his body.
“Diana! Stop!”
It was Rachel.
I acknowledged her then went back to my business.
She came closer and I growled in spite of myself.
“Diana, look at what you’re doing!”
Why was she trying to stop me? Isn’t that what she wanted? Isn’t that what we had been trying to do all night? She must have known about what Leon had done.
“Is this what you really want?”
I looked at her and then at Leon. Yes. Yes, this was what I wanted. I raised my paw again—but was stopped by the most excruciating pain I had ever felt.Think of every time you’ve ever been hurt. Every time you’ve slammed your finger in a door. Every time you’ve accidentally touched a stove. Keep that in your head. Now multiply that by about a thousand. That’s about how I felt.
With some difficulty, I managed to turn to see what the problem was.
Rachel, again.
She was holding the silver ring I had tossed or a duplicate or something. It didn’t matter. All I knew was that much more of this and I was going to pass out. A small whimper escaped my mouth.
Why?
When she spoke, she used the same sincere voice she used the first time we met.
“You’ll thank me later.”
17. Debating: Round Two
I woke up, human and clothed, in the back seat of Rachel’s car. I decided to skip feeling awkward about how I suddenly had clothes on or confused about the time gap and went straight to furious.
“Why did you stop me?!”
“Oh, someone’s awake,” she said a bit nonchalantly.
“I had him! He was right there!”
“Calvin and Darth are fine by the way. They actually stayed in the car like they were supposed to. They’re with Finn and your Dad now.”
“I was so close. Why did you have to stop me?” I asked again.
She sighed and started tapping the window agitatedly.
“I didn’t want you to make a mistake you couldn’t take back.”
“What mistake!” I almost screamed, incredulously, “He stalked me, stalked my mom, killed her— you knew about that, didn’t you?”
She nodded.
“Then why didn’t you tell me?!”
“For this very reason. I didn’t want you going around trying to kill people.”
“Why not? He deserves it!”
“But do you want him dead so much that you’re willing to have blood on your hands?”
“Yes,” I answered flatly.
And it was true. I hated him so much right now that it physically hurt. But would it always be true? I was pretty heated right then. When I calmed down would I still feel the same way? Would I be able to live with myself?
I cursed a little, under my breath, at Rachel for taking the wind out of my sails, then said, with much less heat then I would have seconds before, “You didn’t have to let him go, at least.”
“Oh, don’t be so sure about that,” I could see her eyes sparkle from the rear view mirror.
“Where is he then?”
“Closer than you think.”
I looked around confused.
“Where—oh! You don’t mean the trunk?”
“Yup. Tied up, knocked out, and surrounded by silver. He’s not going anywhere.”
That image made me smile a little but I still felt strangely hollow inside. My pity party was interrupted, however, when Rachel parked in front of my house.
“Thanks for the ride. I’ll see you later I guess.”
I wasn’t exactly sure how this werewolf mentoring thing was going to work, but I was sure that I would be seeing her again soon.
“Actually, I’m going in.”
But not that soon.
“What! No, Dad’s home!”
“I know. I want to talk to him.”
“But—”
She tutted, “No buts. Don’t worry, I know what I’m doing.”
Then she walked up to the door and knocke
18. We Have Some ‘splaining To Do
Dad opened the door, looking exhausted but not overly surprised.
“Hello Rachel.”
He pulled me from the doorway to stand by him.
“Tim.”
I wondered how they knew each other for a second until I remembered all the high school stuff Rachel had told us.
“Finn already told me what happened but I want to hear it from you.”
“OK. The kitchen then?” They both went to the kitchen, leaving me in the living room with Finn, who was lazing back on the couch. I guessed Dad had sent Darth and Calvin to bed somehow.
“He doesn’t seem too upset,” I observed.
“Nope. He already went through all the other stages of grief. You’re just in time for acceptance. You should have seen him when I got Calvin and Darth out of the car.”
I tried to picture that then shook my head. I did not envy Finn.
Finn was right though. The conversation ended pretty quickly and when they came out, Dad didn’t look like he was going to faint or be sick or explode or anything.
Rachel came over and patted me on the back, “I’ll see you soon, OK?” Then to Finn, “let’s go.”
He got up and did a little two fingered salute, “Diana. Mr. Daniels.”
Then they both left.
With them gone, the room was uncomfortably silent. I shifted my weight from foot to foot until I finally got out, “So, they told you everything?”
He nodded, “I got the cliff notes version. We’re going to have a longer conversation later.”
“You don’t look too mad.”
“Well, you’re OK and so are the boys and we only lost one window so it could be worse.”
“But still,” I pressed, “when I found out about the werewolf thing, I flipped out. Why didn’t you?”
“Oh, I did…when I found out. I didn’t find out just now.”
Even with all the drama of today, I still managed to be surprised.
“When?”
“After Mom died. Rachel told me. She thought I had the right to know. She also told me about Leon but she said he was under control, I swear. You believe me right?”
I nodded to reassure him. We lapsed into another awkward silence.
Eventually Dad said, “If you want to talk—”
“No! I mean, just not now. I promise we can talk tomorrow but I need to sleep. OK?”
“OK.”
I started walking to my bed but he stopped me again.
“Wait! It’s just that,” he took a breath, “Rachel-said-that-you-might-be feeling-out of-touch-with-your-humanity-or-not-human-or-something-phycological-like-that-because-of-the-werewolf-thing-and-I-told-her-you’d-be-OK-but-I’m-a-little-worried-about-you-and-I-want-you-to-be-OK-so-are-you-feeling-human?”
He said it exactly like that. One breath and all run together, with good reason too. My dad’s not the sentimental type, that was Mom’s job. He likes us to be tough. He doesn’t even let me take aspirin. The fact he actually asked me if I was fine instead of just saying to run it off or something else “dadish” meant that even though he was OK on the outside, he was killing himself on the inside. And that’s why I walked over to him and hugged him hard.
“Almost.”
Extras
For more by Destiny Howell, visit these links:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/10/11/fiction-by-teens-click-is_n_1005265.html
http://enterthevenn.co.nr/